


You're not the hero

by snk_writing_requests



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Suicide Attempt, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:49:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29872146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snk_writing_requests/pseuds/snk_writing_requests
Summary: I saw the panel in which Bruce tells Hal that the Ring's the hero, not him, and my messed up brain did the rest of the job
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West, Clark Kent/Lois Lane, Diana (Wonder Woman)/Steve Trevor, Dinah Lance/Oliver Queen, Hal Jordan/Dinah Lance/Oliver Queen
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	You're not the hero

Bruce was in his little space ship, shooting bolts all around, while he was listening to his team mates cry over their coms, and while he was answering back.   
It was unnerving to be the only one without super powers, even Jordan had some, and that was more than a little annoying, especially because the Lantern seemed to not be able to let a day pass without reminding him.   
Just the other day they were talking about this, Bruce was pointing out how both of them were the only two who were “only human”, and Hal answered just by floating, looking at him with a grin and a bright eyed expression, a challenge in his stare. The brightness of his eyes lived short, since Bruce couldn’t help but tell him that he was nothing special, the Ring was the real hero. He then realized he touched a raw nerve, because Hal stopped smiling, and in his face, Bruce saw a coldness he never witnessed, before he hissed out that there was nothing special about him either, and that the only special thing about him was his bank account.   
Barry had gone to Bruce’s room that night in the Watchtower  
“May I come in, Bruce?”  
Only Clark ever ventured there, so he worried   
“Is everything ok?”  
“Yes, I just wanted to ask you to not remind of Hal that without the Ring he wouldn’t be a hero, he’s going through a delicate phase”  
Bruce raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t dare ask. Barry looked indecisive, as if he didn’t know if he could reveal or not, but at the end sighed  
“Can you keep a secret?”  
Bruce looked at him with an eloquent look  
“Yeah, ok, right. Do you know how Hal got his Ring?”  
“He got…chosen by the Guardians, right?”  
“Abin”  
“What?”  
“Abin Sur, one of the greatest Lanterns, gave his Ring to Hal right before passing away, and now Hal is the greatest. He’s just waiting for his Ring to find the next ‘greatest’, so if you could just, you know…not encourage his vision of this, it’d be great”  
After that day, Hal would be as stiff as a stick around him, and more often than not avoided to be in the same room with Bruce, which was crazy. Bruce had a very short list of friends, but Hal was definitely in it. Maybe his remark had cut deeper than he thought.   
Even now, during the mission, he never failed to refer to him as anything but Batman, which was unusual, he was expecting Spooky, Spooks, anything. It felt weird. It felt wrong. What was even more wrong was that he was getting distracted by those thoughts, until he saw it. A great ball of light exploding, Clark and Diana flying away from it, Cyborg putting everything he had in his propulsion, while Hal was standing there, floating. Watching the light, trying to create a construct strong enough to hold it, and he almost managed to, before the light exploded, hitting him with the strength of a thousands bombs.   
Bruce saw the shock wave shoot Hal away in space, and heard Diana’s cry over his com, her cry for Hal’s name, asking Clark to go and get him, and he saw a red and blue blur traveling at speed light towards the, most likely, injured Lantern.   
Hal had spent hours thinking about Bruce’s words, and let them sink in. Let them enlighten like a lighthouse all his failures, his failed military career, his failed personal life, his failed family. Everything that wasn’t connected to the Ring was a mess, and he slowly started to believe Bruce about that one statement.   
He looked at his colleagues and friends, and he saw Barry, who had a job and Iris, Clark was a journalist and had Lois, Batman had a little pack of kids at home, happy to call him dad, Diana had Trevor, even Cyborg had his Titans friends…Hal had no one. He had had Carol, but he pushed her away, he had had Kyle, but now Kyle was a Blue Lantern and left Hal’s side.   
So when he saw the blast of light investing him, he opened his arms, welcoming it, welcoming the hit, that burning heat that was taking the oxygen away from his lungs, that was taking apart his uniform, burning his civilian clothes underneath. He let himself drift into unconsciousness, closing his eyes and redirecting his attention from Diana’s cries in his ears, and Bruce’s insisting silence. Of course he would be in silence, lost a Ring, another one could be called. He got along pretty well with John too, he could take his place with no difficulties. 

Bruce was in the Watchtower, sitting on the couch in the hall, watching Oliver, Dinah and Barry listening to Clark. He considered Hal a friend, but to Barry he was a brother, and to Oliver and Dinah…he wasn’t really sure, but more often than not he could be seen leaving their quarters in the morning, especially after Lantern duty that kept him away for weeks, and sometimes, when he came back with blood soaked gloves, Dinah would leave him and Oliver alone, but never when the blood belonged to an enemy. Hal never had enemies’ blood on his hands, he fought from afar, but he would have the blood of a right man, of a child on his gloves, blood of a wound he didn’t manage to close, blood he didn’t manage to stop. And if the following day Oliver looked worse for wear and Hal apologized all day long, just to be rewarded with a gentle kiss on the head by the Archer, no one ever said a thing. Helping Roy out with his addiction gave Oliver a thicker skin than others. He could take a couple snarls and some punches, if it meant to help out his friend.

Oliver was crying silently, holding Dinah close to him, Barry let himself fall on the ground.   
They still couldn’t see him, it was going to be a miracle if he didn’t die, and Bruce felt like he didn’t belong there, among all those people who loved Hal so deeply, who considered him a family member, a lover, and he made for getting back in his quarters, when Barry spoke  
“Stay. He’ll need all of us”  
It was unusual for Barry to raise his voice at Bruce, and this only confirmed to Bruce how close the two men were. Oliver pinned him there with a stare, a simple look that felt like a hundred of those trick arrows that Roy built for him. Bruce wanted to say that he wasn’t a part of Hal’s family, that Hal was better off without him around, but then Clark turned and looked at Hal’s room, and everybody froze. The options were two: he heard Hal stirring or groaning, or he perceived that his heart stopped. Barry ran to the medical room, and everybody held a breath until they heard Barry laughing  
“Hal! Oh god, I thought…”  
But Barry laughter died on his lips when he had to duck to avoid a flying syringe  
“Hal…?”  
“You couldn’t let me be, could you? You absolute bastards, you stupid idiots, egoistic sons of a bitch!”  
Barry froze, Oliver and Dinah looked in pieces, Clark closed his eyes looking pained, Diana held his lasso as if her life depended on it. They heard Barry go on  
“Hal…”  
“You don’t need me, you only need this fucking thing, so here, take it!”  
Barry ducked again and dodged Hal’s Ring, and everything clicked in Bruce’s mind, and his head started to spin, realizing it actually was his fault if Hal was going to let himself die out there, if now he was mad at his best friends for saving him. Barry turned his head towards him, and he could see he was vibrating for the effort to not cut Bruce to shreds.   
The morning after a night spent hearing Barry and Oliver yelling at him, Clark looking at him as if he crucified baby Jesus in front of them and Dinah alone in her and Oliver’s room, Bruce walked into Hal’s room  
“Hal…”  
“No. Walk out. I can’t deal with this AND you today. Go”  
Bruce didn’t listen to him and sat on the bed, putting the Ring back onto Hal’s finger  
“I said GO, you son of a bitch, why the fuck are you even here? Just disappear already”  
Bruce ignored him  
“The Kardashians have more money than me and they don’t save the world. Kilowog has a Ring but he doesn’t cry his eyes out when he can’t save a kid, even when he already saved a thousand. John doesn’t keep a humiliating job just because he has to send money to his nephews and team mates. Guy doesn’t use his tiny constructs to move Damian’s chess pieces to make him win against Tim when he’s in a bad mood. Jessica doesn’t stay up for days to think of plans that might have even just one casualty less than another one. The Ring’s not the hero, Hal. You are, and I am terribly sorry for ever making you feel like you weren’t”  
Hal remained silent for almost twenty minutes, and then he gave a weak laugh   
“Spooks apologizing to me. You just made this whole thing worth it”  
Bruce found himself laughing with Hal, and those bright eyes will be matching his mouth’s smiles and laughter soon, he was sure.


End file.
